Tuesday, April 21, 2009

THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON:1978

I expect failure, based on my past history... but having fun doing so... most of the time. Years ago, a reporter friend of mine... always finished his story /30/ . Like the copy he sent in to his editor. Now, when I see /30/... I don't think it is an end of a story, but just the beginning of over 30 years of memories... I was learning something new about gay rights, like an eager kindergarten kid, just waiting to be pointed in the right direction.Harvey Milk made "time" his direction, and he provided a newness of "GAY" Pride. I remember a hot Sunday August Afternoon in the summer of 1978. I was walking home from Lang softball Field, still in my uniform and bumped into Harvey...

My Oil Can Harry's team had lost the first of the best of 3 to the Sutter's Mill "Gold-diggers" for the Championship of the Community Softball League, and the right to represent San Francisco in the 1978 Gay World New York Series. I had just given a "win one for the Gipper" speech from the grassy knoll to my teammates... just behind 3rd base. I even said... "it may be my only chance", because I was in my 40's, and and thought of that age as old.

On Sunday, we had to take both games to win the Championship. I decided to walk home and take a shower, then go to the Castro... and I bumped into Harvey Milk, and I invited him to come out to Sunday's games... because a San Francisco Championship team was going to represent the city in the Big Apple's gay World Series. He said that The Castro Street Fair was on... and he couldn't make it , saying "THE FAIR WAS HIS BABY !" and under my breath... "and the gay softball league was mine."

Link up to both web-sites below for a trip down memory lane...THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON-1978

The crowds were always large. The late Jack "Irene" McGowan, would always add "One of OUR OWN KIND" ,when ever a gay player was introduced on the PA. He was the Jack McGraw of our league and by no means a saint. We were arch enemies from the time I was appointed our team's representative... and wrote sports for the latest gay newspaper, The "Gazette". I predicted the OUTcome ...

Link up FOR THE REST OF THE STORY... FROM MAYOR MOSCONE'S FIRST PITCH OF THE SEASON TO WINDING UP NATIONALLY ON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WIRES, AND WALTER CRONKITE'S CBS EVENING NEWS.

(LEFT) Poster from gay softball game(RIGHT)Citation given to Oil Can Harry's for being so diversified, like the City of S.F. by Mayor Moscone-1978

(LEFT) 3 S.F. GAY HALL of FAME members... Jack Irene McGowan, Myself in the middle and Sitting Down...Mark Brown Would you believe... we never got along! @25,000 ft on way to N.Y.City.-1978(RIGHT) The Last Round Up-Photo by: Emory Reiff

(LEFT) With Mayor Moscone, I WAS THE OPENING DAY PITCHER-1978photo credit: Patt Wexler(RIGHT) Mayor Moscone, commenting on the first edition of the "Gazette".On the front page... my photo of him throwing out the first pitch of the 1978C.S. League at City Hall-1978. and inside his welcoming letter... that I set up.(c) Jerry Pritikin-1978

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About Me

I spent 23 years in Exile in San Francisco, from the early 1960s until the late 1980s. I was a freelance photographer and publicist specializing in one-of-a-kind clients and
businesses. My photos have appeared in
books, exhibits and documentaries. I have
been involved in politics,sports and theater promotions. For over 25 years I was known
as the "Bleacher Preacher" in and around
the "Friendly Confines" of Chicago's Wrigley
Field. At 76, I was inducted into the Chicago Senior Citizen Hall of Fame for my contributions to GLBT history in 2012.This year I was inducted into the National Gay Sports Hall of Fame. I am always available to talk about my involvement in sports,politics and photography.
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